ASHLAND, Maine — While D-sharps and F-flats were heard at the recent All-Aroostook Music Festival in Ashland, organizers gave the event an A-plus.
For the first time, Ashland District School was the site of the Northern Maine Music Educators Association’s annual festival, which was held Jan. 13-14.
“I think it went very well,” said Jon Simonoff, music teacher at SAD 32. “I’ve heard nothing but good things from other people including the students that I talked to, so overall I think for our first time running the festival, we couldn’t have done much better than we did.”
More than 135 students from 12 county schools participated in the festival.
“Every group except for Houlton, Hodgdon and Katahdin were here on time Friday to begin rehearsal, but those schools arrived later because of the weather and poor road conditions,” Simonoff said. “However, once they got here, they joined their respective groups and everything was fine. It was a relatively seamless transition. It made the groups sound that much better because there was a bigger sound.”
“It’s pretty cool having it here,” she said. “All the new kids get to see what our school’s like and our environment and get to play in our gym and auditorium. It’s a cool experience.”
This was Paradis’ second year in All-Aroostook. She has played the French horn for two years and the baritone horn for half a year.
“I like the sounds of them. They’re unique instruments that a lot of people don’t play,” she said, noting that she knew a lot of her fellow musicians. “I play sports with the other kids so I talk to them and know them. It’s fun hanging out and playing music together.
“I hope I make it to All-Aroostook again,” said Paradis. “I’m certainly going to keep auditioning.”
Each year the festival features guest conductors. This year Steve Orlofsky worked with the high school band, while Pat Bragdon conducted the middle school students.
“Whenever I’m nominated and asked to do them, I do them,” said Orlofsky, who is the director of instrumental music at George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill. “I love it. You’re working with students that really want to play music. They enjoy learning and like to perform. They’re musicians … they’re young high school musicians that really like this creative art.”
Orlofsky, who started teaching in 1974, is no stranger to Aroostook County. He taught elementary classroom music, junior high band and high school chorus in Fort Fairfield.
“I was there in the 1980s. I was there for three years, left and went to graduate school, and then I came back for six more years. It’s great to be back.”
The high school band performed “Minuteman,” “Variants on a Shaped Note Tune,” “West Side Story” and “The Lord of the Dance.”
“I tried to create a varied and interesting program that the students would enjoy,” said Orlofsky, noting how beautiful the Ashland District School is. “I congratulate Ashland on their new school. It’s beautiful and the acoustics are wonderful.”
Bragdon teaches grades 6-8 band and jazz band, and grades 7-8 general music classes at Presque Isle Middle School. This was his first experience conducting a group at the All-Aroostook Music Festival.
“It’s an honor to be asked because it is a big festival. There aren’t too many of them like this throughout the state, so it means a lot to be asked,” said Bragdon. “It was my chance to conduct a bigger group than I normally have, as well as work with the top student musicians throughout Aroostook County.”
Bragdon said there are differences between conducting his usual school bands versus the All-Aroostook middle school band.
“It’s a little more stressful knowing that you have two days to put it together. It came together well, but the time constraints make it more stressful. You also need to hold the kids’ attention which can be difficult at this age level … or any level for that matter,” he said. “With the All-Aroostook musicians, I didn’t have to go over things as many times as I would my school band. Because they’re the top student musicians in the county, I was able to do a little more with them which was nice.”
The middle school band performed “Adrenaline Engines,” “Cavata,” “Psalm 42” and “Sabre Dance.”
This was the third All-Aroostook appearance for Alyssa Trombley, an eighth-grader at PIMS. She said having Bragdon as the guest conductor was more relaxing for her.
“I think it’s a lot easier because last year Mr. Bragdon would go over the pieces with us in class and then the guest conductor would change it up a little bit, but with Mr. Bragdon, I kind of knew what he was going to do because he’s worked with us on it,” she said.
Trombley, who plays the flute, said despite the “little bit” of added pressure performing with the All-Aroostook band, “it’s actually pretty fun.”
“You get to meet new people,” she said. “That’s probably the best part of it.”
Though school districts have to bid on which school hosts the festival, Simonoff said he hopes Ashland will host again.
“Now that we’ve done it once and people have seen that we’re capable,” he said, “I think it will be easier to convince our administration, as well as the Northern Maine Music Educators Association to let us do it again. I would definitely love to host again. For us — this year — it was a chance to show off what we have and prove that Ashland is serious about music in our school, and I think we did that.”
